***
“Brother, have you mastered some martial arts? Since you entered the Head’s private library, why don't you show us how much you’ve improved?”
The fellow had likely chosen me as a sacrificial lamb to make himself look good in front of the beauties.
Truly, he was a guy whose petty mind worked incredibly fast.
However, in truth, I was just as filled with irritation.
Even if it wasn't my current state, in my previous life, I was a man who had reached the level of a top-tier first-class expert; there was no way that experience and enlightenment would have gone anywhere.
Therefore, watching a brat who hadn't even reached the first-class level act up was an incredibly difficult thing to endure.
‘It’s hard. It’s hard, but….’
The problem was that my body was even harder to deal with.
Even if I trusted myself, I couldn't trust my current body. At that moment, I was in a state where I was out of breath just from walking.
It saddened me that the saying I was closer to a pig than a human wasn't entirely wrong.
In the end, I gritted my teeth and decided to back down as much as possible.
Does the saying not go that ten years is not too long for a gentleman’s revenge?
I thought it would be wise to wait for an opportunity after returning to a human appearance.
I gave a foolish grin and tried to appease him with soft words.
“How could things suddenly change just because I practiced martial arts for a day? I’m merely trying my best. I should go back quickly now—Ugh!”
Peok!
But it seemed the fellow had no intention of giving me a choice.
My forearm throbbed with a pain as if it were about to break.
I had barely managed to block the fist he had suddenly lunged forward with.
“What?”
The fellow looked at me with a look of surprise.
It seemed he found it very unexpected that I had blocked his surprise attack.
However, I was just as surprised.
It was truly shocking that it could hurt this much just from blocking a single punch.
My untrained arm was throbbing painfully.
Originally, I could have dodged it with ease, but because my body couldn't keep up with my reactions, I had no choice but to block it.
Once again, I felt despair regarding my body.
“You blocked it? My third brother blocked my punch?”
However, even that much seemed to have sufficiently shocked the fourth brother, Sunwoo Gi.
He stood frozen on the spot, muttering blankly.
Then, the older brothers who were watching from behind burst into laughter as if they had been waiting for it.
“Puhahaha! Gi, to be blocked even by a pig—isn't your punch too slow?!”
“Brother, once that fellow leaves, it seems Gi will have to inherit the title of the Sunwoo Clan’s shame! Hahahaha!”
It was obvious what they were thinking without even looking.
Inwardly, they thought they had lost the chance to stand out in front of Young Lady Jegal, but seeing their rival Sunwoo Gi look pathetic, they thought they had caught an opportunity to belittle him.
Needless to say, Sunwoo Gi, who was being ridiculed, was in quite a state.
Thinking he had been humiliated in front of the woman he wanted to impress, the fellow’s face flushed red as he took a proper stance and began to lunge at me in earnest.
“How dare you!”
His fists flew nimbly like the wind, creating afterimages.
Pabababak!
“Uuuugh!”
Once again, I managed to block somehow, but the immense pain was numbing my very bones.
I felt like begging him to stop.
But… something was a bit strange.
The movements of the fellow, which I was clearly seeing for the first time, somehow looked familiar.
‘That is, surely?!’
It was the Gale Thirteen Strikes (Jilpung-sip-sam-bak), the hand-to-hand combat method of the Sunwoo Clan.
The movements of the Gale Thirteen Strikes, which I had never even practiced, were entering my eyes with great familiarity.
In an instant, I even forgot the pain and focused on his movements.
His hands and feet were flying in as elusively as a gale. Advanced martial techniques where the strikes and kicks were exquisitely intertwined to neutralize defense, just as small winds mix to become a great wind.
That sight was exquisitely clicking into place in my mind with the secret manual I had just read in the library.
Suddenly, my mind brightened.
In an instant, I was able to understand the principles that I couldn't possibly comprehend through text and drawings.
It was like pure ecstasy.
Without realizing it, I let out an exclamation.
“This is good!”
Then, the fellow flinched for a moment.
“Wha-what? Good?”
When the fellow suddenly stopped his movements, I grew anxious.
The movements that were clicking into place one by one in my head had come to a halt.
“Ah, no! I misspoke. What are you doing? Why aren't you attacking! Attack me more, more!”
Then, the fellow’s expression distorted.
It was an expression as if he were looking at a pervert.
The other brothers did not miss the opportunity and ridiculed him again.
“Puhahaha! Gi, the fellow says it’s good?!”
“He’s asking for more? He must like the feeling of your attacks, hahahaha!”
Then, the fellow, who gnashed his teeth, began to lunge again with fire in his eyes.
“Die!”
“Yes, come on! Uhahahat!”
I was excited.
In my previous life, what I had mastered were the sword techniques of Jeomchang and Cheongseong, which I had learned over others' shoulders. Naturally, they were nothing but shells; I didn't know the exact principles or the application.
Therefore, I was currently learning martial arts properly for the first time across two lives.
And it was the martial arts of my own family, the Sunwoo Clan.
Accepting the storm-like attacks the fellow poured out, I was finally able to match every form in my head with my memory.
It felt as if a clear bell rang with a ‘tring’ in my head.
And at that moment, the fellow attacked me with a form that I could now see as clearly as the palm of my hand.
It was the form ‘Gale Waves’ (Jilpung-parang), which throws punches like a gale before attacking a weak point with a kicking technique in an instant.
Through my thick arms that were wrapped around to defend my upper body, I could see the fellow’s fist-images flying in like a rain shower.
Dudududu!
I could see the fellow’s fist-images drumming against my arms like a downpour, and his attempt to transition into a kicking technique.
At that moment, without realizing it, I took a step forward.
I could clearly see the flaw in the fellow, whose training seemed insufficient and awkward since earlier.
As I took a step forward and thrust out a long palm strike (Jang-gwon), the fellow’s chest, which he had lunged with himself, came and collided with it on its own.
Peo-eo-eok!
I felt a thrilling sensation in my palm from the heavy pressure.
“Khu-heok!”
The fellow was thrown backward at the same speed he had been coming, vomiting blood from his mouth.
Teol-sseok!
As his body was thrown onto the grass, I also slumped down as if the tension had broken.
“Heok, heok!”
It seemed I had used the maximum amount of strength this body could exert.
Then, even the brothers who had been ridiculing Sunwoo Gi a moment ago became silent.
The way they looked at the unconscious Sunwoo Gi while blinking their eyes suggested they were extremely flustered.
However, they soon regained their senses and began to approach me with fierce eyes.
“The pig got lucky.”
“Why don't you show that technique to us as well?”
This was trouble.
I truly didn't have the strength to stand up anymore.
‘Ah, damn it. This won't do.’
Cold sweat ran down.
I didn't mind getting hit, but I could currently feel murderous intent in their eyes; if I were to be severely injured and unable to return to the library, I felt there would be nothing more unfair than that.
I tried to settle the situation for now.
“B-brothers! It seems Gi was badly hurt because of my mistake! Shouldn't we check Gi’s condition first?!”
But they snorted.
“Hmph! Who is worrying about whom?!”
“Gi would also want us to take revenge on you!”
It was then.
At the moment of crisis, an unexpected savior appeared.
It was Young Lady Jegal, the very person who had put me in this crisis.
“To think you would try to torment someone who is too exhausted to even stand, rather than checking on your younger brother’s condition when he is injured. It is truly disappointing. Isn't that right, Cheong-yeon?”
Then, the woman standing half a step behind Young Lady Jegal, whose eyes were covered by her bangs, nodded with a stiff expression, and with that, the situation came to an abrupt end.
The flustered brothers hurriedly made excuses and ran toward Sunwoo Gi.
“A-ah, no! That can't be! We were just about to check on our brother’s condition!”
“I am already checking! Gi, are you okay?!”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
Truly, they were pathetic sights.
To think I had lived being victimized by such fellows.
I was just as pathetic.
Well, if those guys had been decent, we would have already been on good terms.
Like my friend, Dan Ha-sang.
Suddenly, the face of my friend who died unfairly came to mind.
Even though I had returned to the past, I had only seen his dead appearance in the end; once again, I made a firm vow.
‘Ha-sang, I will surely find the culprit who harmed you. And I will make them pay the price.’
While I was thinking such thoughts, my brothers slinked away, carrying the unconscious Sunwoo Gi on their backs, and vanished from my sight in an instant.
Only the young lady with long bangs, whom Young Lady Jegal had called Cheong-yeon, looked toward me with a meaningful gaze until the very end.
Now that they had all disappeared, I lay spread-eagled on the empty grass and panted for a long time.
White clouds were floating idly in the blue sky.
Then, a shadow suddenly fell over my face.
Sunwoo Joong, my father, had arrived at some point and was looking down at me.
Startled, I cried out.
“A-ah, Father?!”
It felt as if my heart had dropped.
It was because I thought he would think I was being lazy even though he had gone so far as to send me to the Head’s private library.
“I-I mean, right now…!”
It was very strange.
Failing the father I had never missed once in my previous life was somehow much more terrifying than being beaten by my brothers.
However, Father’s gaze was not one of disappointment.
His gaze contained a certain emotion that was somehow mournful, and which I was seeing from him for the first time.
An emotion that was so unfamiliar I couldn't believe it.
He spoke to me in a low and gentle voice.
“You’ve worked hard, Jin. And….”
Words I was hearing for the first time, words that were utterly unbelievable, were flowing from his mouth.
“I am proud of you.”
Something welled up inside me.
I didn't know what kind of expression to make.
I was merely barely suppressing the something that was welling up.
Then, Father suddenly turned his gaze and looked at the sky, speaking as if reciting to himself.
“Do you know? That among the four marriages I had, there was only one that I wanted for myself.”
It was a story I was hearing for the first time.
“Back then, I thought it was something I obviously had to do for the clan. But… now, I am not so sure.”
His voice was so lonely that it made my heart ache.
But at the same time, my mind was confused, and I didn't understand what he meant.
No, to be precise, I couldn't believe it.
‘Those words mean that, among the four marriages, the one he wanted for himself was—then, could it be?’
When I looked at Father with a pained gaze, not knowing what to say, he suddenly changed the atmosphere, smiled broadly, and spoke.
“Did you read the secret manual for the Thirteen Swords of Sunwoo?”
“Pardon? Yes! I read it.”
Then, Father walked slowly toward the open space of the grass and spoke.
“I’m thinking of practicing sword techniques for a bit, as it’s been a while. You take an appropriate rest and then go back inside.”
He then began to perform the sword techniques slowly.
It was the Thirteen Swords of Sunwoo.
Very slowly, from beginning to end.
Then, he started again from the beginning, a bit faster.
He repeated it several times, getting faster and faster.
Over and over, again and again.
Until I was no longer watching.
By the time I saw it for the third time, I was already able to understand every form.
But still, I continued to watch Father’s sword dance.
Absorbed, endlessly.
I felt as if this moment would somehow be unforgettable.
And when Father’s breathing grew heavy, I bowed to him slowly and entered the library again.
The thought that I could perhaps stop reading the martial arts books had long since vanished.
Like the beginning—no, in a state of even greater focus than the beginning—I started to read through the books again.
I didn't want to waste even a moment of this time.
After finishing all the books related to martial arts, the last books I read were things like the diaries of ancestors.
They were things where various experiences and insights (sim-deuk) had been left behind, but as expected, I didn't understand them at all yet.
‘Well, it was hard enough to understand the forms; it would be strange if I already understood the insights.’
I was about to put the last volume back on the bookshelf after reading it. Suddenly, feeling a slightly strange texture, I pulled the book out again.
And I examined it in detail.
‘This is…?’
No matter how I looked at it, the thickness of one side of the cover was a bit strange.
One side was far too thick compared to the other.
Having once rooted out a spy delivering secret messages in this manner while serving at the front, I knew it well.
There was undoubtedly something inside the cover.
I carefully tore open the cover and split it.
“As I thought!”
Inside, there was a thinly folded piece of paper.
And on that paper, several drawings and words were written on both sides, and at the top of each side of the paper, titles were written in large letters.
‘14th Form,’ ‘15th Form.’
If it’s the 14th and 15th forms….
“…Could it be?”
Perhaps I was the first one to discover this.